Thursday, August 28, 2014

An interesting turn of events, UND goalie Zane Gothberg has changed his last name is now officially now Zane McIntyre. I am sure I will screw this up once or twice.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – University of North Dakota junior goaltender Zane Gothberg announced today that he has legally changed his surname to his mother’s maiden name of McIntyre.

“My grandmother and my mother have been very influential in my life,” said McIntyre. “With the passing of my grandmother and my mother getting re-married, as well as my sister getting married, I’ve made the personal choice to carry on the family name in their honor.”

McIntyre, a sixth-round draft pick of the Boston Bruins in 2010, went 20-10-3 last season and was a finalist for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s (NCHC) Goaltender of the Year award. He led the NCHC with a 1.99 goals against average and ranked second with a .926 save percentage. In 50 career appearances, the Thief River Falls, Minn., native is 29-14-6 with a 2.15 goals against average and a school-record .924 save percentage.

Tuesday, July 08, 2014

Joe Haggerty of CSNNE had this to say about UND goalie Zane Gothberg who's going to the Boston Bruins development camp. Notice, Haggerty referred to the University of North Dakota as the Fighting Sioux.

Joe Haggerty, CSNNE.Com --- Zane Gothberg – Goaltender, 2010 sixth round pick (165th overall): Gothberg helped lead the University of North Dakota to the Frozen Four, and set a school record with his .926 save percentage last season. The longtime development camp attendee should be one of the standouts after his 1.99 goals against average and three shutouts in 33 games for the Fighting Sioux last season.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

In a season that looked like we were going to be where Miami ended up this season, this group of guys showed the NCAA you don't need an explosive goal scorer to have success.

Even though the season ended in a heartbreaking fashion, this UND team has a solid base for the future ahead.

Now for my team awards. I will be giving out awards for my team MVP, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and this years Unsung Hero.

So here we go. For my team MVP, I give it to a kid who has battled in every single game he has played this season. I consider him the backbone of this very hard working team. My MVP is goaltender Zane Gothberg. Gothberg ended his season with a 1.99 goals against average after going on one of the most impressive runs a UND goaltender has put on in quite some time. He always seemed to be there to answer the bell whenever he was called upon to do so. I have a feeling many people will be agreeing with me on this one that Zane Gothberg is the most deserving for team MVP this season.

My Offensive Player of the Year isn't going to be quite as easy to pick out. There are a couple of deserving players on this team to earn this title. However, I am giving this award to Michael Parks. Parks has proven himself in every single game and has very few flaws to his game. He always goes hard on the forecheck and battles hard in the corners. It is also very hard to knock Parks off of the puck and especially inside the offensive zone. The master of the wrap around tallied up 30 points this season, and looks to be a team leader next season. Michael Parks is my Offensive Player of the Year.

For my Defensive Player of the Year I go with the obvious choice in Dillon Simpson. He was the Ryan Suter comparison for UND this year playing the big minutes and in important situations for this team. Along with his ability to block shots better than almost anyone in the NCAA, Simpson is also one of the best puck movers on the blue line as well, which is why coach Hakstol had him running things there on the power play. Dillon Simpson is the easy choice, for me, for Defensive Player of the Year.

For my ROY I go to another defenseman, and Grand Forks native, Paul LaDue. LaDue's highlight game of the season probably came in their 9-2 victory over Miami when he was an outstanding +6 on the game. LaDue also would be one of the top freshman in +/- this season, and his opponents would find it hard to score whenever he was on the ice. LaDue is looking to be a leader on the blue line for UND for the years to come making it easy for me to pick him as ROY.

Finally for my Unsung Hero. I'm sure you all can guess where this one is going. This walk-on laid it out on the line for every shift he was able to play giving it 110%. He would always make a play that seemed to get the guys fired up at key times, and either set up, or score, goals at key times in games. I give this to Edina, Minnesota's Connor Gaarder. The junior was on fire down the stretch run and into the playoffs. Gaarder would score the game winner against Western Michigan in the NCHC third place game, which ultimately sent them to the NCAA tournament. Gaarder would also score the 2OT winner against Ferris State to send UND to their 20th Frozen Four and 6th in their last 10 seasons. Gaarder could have been the poster child for this team because his play is North Dakota Hockey to a tee.

Well another season gone and another season of a lot of success, but still no big one for coach Hakstol. I see nothing but bright things in the future for this program and next season should be a fun one that's for sure.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Like most UND hockey fans, I am still trying process what happened this past weekend. I don’t think that many saw this coming. Especially after they started the season 4-7-2. Since December 1, 2013, UND has been on a tear and gone 21-6-1 (.768). That's one of the best records in college hockey during that time span.

Before leaving the Wednesday press conference, Jayson Hajdu told me that UND would be playing in two weeks. "There will be a press conference next week." Maybe we should re-name him Carnac the Magnificent.

No one in the blogosphere really gave UND much of a chance to win the Midwest Regional. When I saw that UND was playing Wisconsin in the Midwest Regional semifinal game, I felt there was a “good chance” UND could advance to the Midwest Regional final. Ironically, there are a lot of similarities between last year’s Yale team and this year’s UND team. UND was the last team in the NCAA tournament, so was Yale. The Bulldogs beat a one-seed and a two-seed. Ditto for UND.

The winning goalie after the game...

“Growing up, you hear about North Dakota hockey and it is just tradition,” UND sophomore goalie Zane Gothberg said. “It’s something we take pride in practice or in games. A lot of it starts with the coaching staff instilling that level of competition and pride. It feels great and all of our hard work has gone for a good cause.”

On scoring the game winning goal.

“We were scrumming in the corner and it just came to a point out there,’ junior forward Connor Gaarder said. “I knew I had to get to the net. The rebound came right to me and kind of just slid it in there.”

Monday, March 10, 2014

UND goalie Zane Gothberg was again the NCHC's awarded the goaltender of the week, for a second time in a three-week period. GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK

Zane Gothberg, North Dakota

Sophomore Goaltender

Thief River Falls, Minn.

Gothberg was strong in net all weekend against Western
Michigan, allowing just two goals in a split with the Broncos. He posted a 1.01
goals-against average and a .952 save percentage in the series, while making 40
saves on 42 shots. On Friday, Gothberg pitched his second career shutout, both
coming in his last six games, as he stopped all 18 shots in a 2-0 win, while
helping kill all four WMU power plays. He was named the game’s third star for
his efforts. On Saturday, the Boston Bruins prospect totaled 22 saves in a 2-1
loss while not allowing an even strength goal. Gothberg helped UND end
the weekend 7-for-8 on the penalty kill and also finished the NCHC regular
season with a 2.26 GAA in conference play, which led all goaltenders. He has
now claimed NCHC Goaltender of the Week three times this season.

Since November 30, 2013, UND goalie Zane Gothberg is 13-1-1 with a .936 save percentage and 1.59 goals against average. During that same time, UND is 16-3-2. Also, senior goalie time Clarke Saunders has a 3-2-0 record during the same time. UND started the season 4-7-2, they were going nowhere fast and they were sitting in the bottom of the NCHC Standings. In looking at the turnaround, we might be able to credit the player's only meeting in late November. When asked about the turnaround, Gothberg was quick to give credit to the coaches.

“Obviously it starts with our coaching staff,” Gothberg said. “They’ve been through the ropes. They’ve been through everything, throughout the years. And I think it just kind of came down from them.”

Gothberg continued, “Once we figured out how to play our game, each guy bought in. It was a simple mentality change. Just a little bit before Christmas break. It was kind of cool to see what happened. You know what, we’re going out and proving ourselves every night, still. Proving to ourselves, and to our team that we can be even better.”

With the win last night, UND is either going to be playing Colorado College or Miami University. It’s just a matter of with team finishes number one, and which team finishes number two. UND is 2-0-0 against C.C. and 3-1-0 against Miami. Neither team is an easy out. So, we now have the four home teams for the NCHC playoffs, UND, SCSU, UMD and UNO. We'll know exact seeding at about 10:30 p.m.

It’s hard to believe that WMU is the sixth place team in the NCHC. Based on what I have seen, they’re a pretty good hockey team. It was fun to listen to former NHL coach Andy Murray after the game.

Here’s a few statistics to chew on. After finding it hard to score goals earlier in the season, UND is the third in the NCHC for goals for with 75. First is SCSU with 83 and second is Nebraska-Omaha with 78. Defensively, UND is second with 61 goals against, Denver is first with 56.

As I mentioned earlier in the season, I thought UND was a good hockey team that was trying to find their way. Some wanted to abandon the team. Early in the season, I went to a few practices and saw some of the goings on when the team was down. It was not all fun and games around the UND locker room, I can tell you that. You could feel the tension around the UND hockey team. I asked someone if it was stretch run was on already… Their response was, oh yeah. It's on.

That being said, there’s a lot of skill on this team. There’s also a lot of team speed. This is one of the fastest UND hockey teams that I have seen in a very long time. The play starts with the “D” and they lead the breakout, out of the defensive zone, in a lot of cases. If you can, focus on players like Jordan Schmaltz, Dillon Simpson or Paul LaDue, they’re very good with the puck. I think this team gets out of the defensive zone better than last year’s team, and that team had a lot of high-end offensive talent.

The UND hockey team is transforming from being a bruising team that checks you out of the building and takes a lot of penalties, to a team that can skate with the Boston Colleges. This is no accident. UND is changing like the NHL game has.

Tonight, UND will honor four very classy seniors, defenseman Dillon Simpson, forward Mitch MacMillan, forward Derek Rodwell and goaltender Clarke Saunders. If you haven’t seen it yet, go watch this week’s “Through These Doors”. There’s some very good stuff.

On my way to work this morning, Simpson was on “Hockey on Campus” and I just can’t get over the fact that Simpson isn’t even 21 years old yet. The senior defenseman came to UND as a young age of 17. There’s freshmen on this team that are older than him. Age is just a number.

Surprising result of the night: After being named NCHC Goalie of the week, Ryan Massa gave up four goals on 27 shots to the UMD Bulldogs. UMD would win the game 8-2. Tony Cameranesi and Justin Crandall paced UMD with two goals each.

Friday, February 28, 2014

The table has been set. The stakes are high. The Penrose Cup will be in the Herb Brooks Arena (aka the Concrete Center) this weekend. If either team sweeps, they "would" clinch at least a share of the the Penrose Cup.

The SCSU Huskies (12-5-3-0 NCHC, 18-7-5 overall) and University of North Dakota (13-7-0-0, 18-9-3) are currently tied at the top of the NCHC standing with four games remaining in regular season.

The order is tall for UND, in their last 10 games against the Huskies they hold a 4-5-1 record and they haven’t had much success against Husky goalie Ryan Faragher. The last time UND beat SCSU was on (11/09/2012) when Clarke Saunders shutout the Huskies 3-0.

Records: UND has a 14-2-1 record the last 17 games. SCSU 7-6-3 record the last 16 games.

Over the last couple of seasons, Husky goalie Faragher has had UND’s number. In the last two seasons, Faragher has a 4-1-1 record against UND. This includes a series sweep earlier this season in Grand Forks. During his career against UND, the junior goalie has 6-3-1 record with a .940 save percentage and a 1.79 GAA.

Second verse same as the first.

At the Ralph Engelstad Arena, Faragher has been nothing short of amazing, compiling a 4-1-1 record, a.957 save percentage and a 1.50 goals against average. UND hopes their fortunes will change this weekend against the Huskies. The Green and White need to emerge from this weekend’s series with at least a series split, to keep their title hopes alive. To be successful this weekend UND is going to have to get pucks past Faragher. Sounds simple right?

From this week’s game notes: In the last 13 games, UND goalie Zane Gothberg is 11-0-2, with a 1.75 GAA and a .931 save percentage. In 21 games this season, Gothberg is 13-5-3, has a 2.12 GAA and a .922 save percentage. Against the Huskies, Gothberg is 0-3-0, 3.10 GAA and has a .902 save percentage. Saunders is 1-1-1, 2.27 GAA and has a .920 save percentage.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

With the Injury to New York Islanders forward
John Tavares, other players on the Islanders are going to have an opportunity
to play more. One of them is former UND forward Brock Nelson. (TSN.CA)

The Islanders, 12 points out of a playoff
spot, weren't going to contend for the postseason this year and are already
preparing to move LW Thomas Vanek prior to the March 5th trade
deadline. Under those circumtances, there will be some opportunities available
for other Islanders, rookies Ryan Strome and Brock Nelson among them, to play more
prominent offensive roles.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

The University of North Dakota will face some more adversity this weekend against the University of Denver. Sophomore goalie Zane Gothberg was injured in practice yesterday and is out indefinitely.

Gothberg has been pretty solid this season and has racked up some decent numbers during the nine-game unbeaten streak. From Schlossman, "Goaltender Zane Gothberg, who has started all of the games in the streak, has a 1.76 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage."

For the season, Gothberg has a line of (10-5-3, 2.20 GAA and a .916 save percentage). The sophomore goalie is third in the NCHC in wins, fourth in the NCHC in save percentage, and third in the NCHC in goals against average.

UND will be without Gothberg, at minimum, for a couple weeks. He has started every game in UND's 9-game unbeaten streak.
— Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) January 22, 2014

Friday, October 11, 2013

English: Ralph Engelstadt Arena at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota. *Personally photographed by the undersigned May 8, 2007. Elcajonfarms 03:46, 3 July 2007 (UTC) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This season, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference begins its inaugural season of play. We were told back in May, that the NCHC would be pioneering an innovative standard for their on-ice officials. So, fans wanted to know what that actually meant. Tonight, University of North Dakota and the University of Vermont Catamounts were whistled for 21 minor penalties.

That’s not a misprint. Seriously!

“I thought we created some of our problems with some penalties early,” head coachDave Hakstol said. “I thought it lead to us wasting the first 10 minutes of each of the first and second periods. We found a way to battle back and win a game, so that’s a real positive.”

At first, it looked like it was going to be a rough night for the home team. Vermont had just taken a 3-1 lead on a goal by UVM freshman defenseman Rob Hamilton. UND head coach Dave Hakstol had seen enough and made the change in net. Hakstol replaced senior goalie Clarke Saunders with sophomore goalie Zane Gothberg. The rest is history. UND would rally by scoring four unanswered goals and would skate to a 5-3 win. After the game, head coach Dave Hakstol talked about his goaltending change.

“I thought he (Zane Gothberg) did a good job,” Hakstol said. “I thought he did his job in that situation. You have to have the door slammed at that point in time. If one more (goal) goes in, it’s pretty hard to dig your way out. Some nights you make a goaltending change, it’s a goaltending issue. Tonight, I felt like tonight was a team issue. I felt that third goal against was a little bit of evidence of that and we needed to get going a bit.”

And going they did, the Green and White were led by junior forward Mark MacMillan (1g-1a—2pts) and sophomore forwards Rocco Grimaldi (1g-3a—4pts) and Drake Caggiula (1g-1a—2pts). Rocco Grimaldi downplayed his quite four point night.

“Yeah I think it was too,” Grimaldi said. “Obviously, a couple of five on three points, those aren’t extremely noticeable. When you have a five on three you’re supposed to score, you have a big advantage. So, I just did what I could, to get this team a win. I tried to do everything I could for my line mates, kind of helped them out and pushed the pace. Obviously, we had a rough start a little bit and we came back kicking at the end. So, it’s a good two points for our team.”

With all of the penalties, the game lacked flow. UND would kill 10/11 Catamount power plays and would go 2/7 on the man advantage. That being said, the game lacked flow with all of the penalties and Mark MacMillan agreed with this assessment after the game.

“Obviously, there were a lot of penalties each way,” MacMillan said. “So, when there’s a lot of a special teams, it’s hard to get some flow to the game. Parts of the game we stared to get some flow into the game. Started to get some five on five shifts going – couple of big shifts from some guys – started getting that flow going.”

It was evident that once UND slowed their march to the penalty box, they were able to take the game over and over power the Catamounts.

UND will go for the sweep tomorrow night as the same two teams face off at 7:07 p.m. at the Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Friday, October 04, 2013

While the University of North Dakota hockey team might
have a lot of new players coming in this season, the UND hockey team is set at
the goaltending position. Looking at the roster, I would say that the goaltending
is a strength of the 2013-14 UND hockey team. In net, UND is
backstopped by two very good goaltenders, sophomoreZane Gothberg (9-4-3,
2.46 GAA and .920 SV %) and seniorClarke Saunders(13-9-4, GAA 2.30 and .917 SV %).